After three years of hard work and 744 days since the historic mat pour, the “Wilshire Grand Core and Steel Topping Out” ceremony was celebrated on March 8, 2016. Workers from the construction project’s manager, Turner Construction, The Conco Companies and officials from the project’s architect, AC Martin Partners, representatives from the project’s owner’s, Korean Air, and others were on-hand to celebrate the event.
The ceremony consisted of lifting the last steel beam into place, which had been signed by all of the workers, owners and a group of dignitaries. The beam, weighing 2,100 pounds and 35 feet long, had been trucked in from Eloy, Arizona. In following with the tradition, a U.S. flag and tree was placed on top of the beam. The tradition of holding a topping out ceremony began as a religious rite that is traced back to ancient Scandinavia. The practice of placing a tree on top of a newly finished building was done to appease tree-dwelling spirits that had been displaced during the construction. Chris Martin, the lead architect on the project, noted there is still much work to do on the project. However, he added that they would be here again next year on March 8, 2017 in another ceremony to celebrate the completion of the building. This date is not just coincidental, but the birthday of Yang Ho Cho, chairman of Hanjin International Corp, which owns Korean Air. The completion of the 73-story concrete core signifies a major achievement in the project. At 892-ft. high, the concrete core required 32,000 cubic yards of concrete and 50 million pounds of rebar to construct. When finished, the Wilshire Grand will be the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River. The Conco Companies’ goal is to be the best supplier of commercial concrete services for the Western U.S. We bring our extensive expertise and professionalism to each project and continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market. Before you start your next project, please contact us for more information about our trusted commercial concrete services. Source: latimes.com/local/california/la-me-adv-wilshire-grand-topping-out-20160313-story.html
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One of our larger projects that The Conco Companies have been involved with is a new skyscraper in downtown San Francisco. The Salesforce Tower will become the second tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi once it is complete. Another current Conco project, the Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles will be the tallest by just a few extra feet.
For all of you following the progress of the Salesforce Tower, Boston Proprieties has released another video on the historic, continuous mat pour that was done on Nov 7-8, 2015. In this particular video, Conco’s CEO, Steve Gonsalves makes an appearance as he describes the scope of the pour, stating how rare of a project this is, and while not something that we do every day, “We love it!” Another interesting part of the video shows the hefty size of the rebar that was used for the foundation. Even though #4 rebar is most commonly used as reinforcement, this project required the largest size rebar manufactured. The heavy #18 rebar measures 2 1/4 inches in diameter and in readiness for the mat pour, 500 million pounds were laid down. The project was started two years ago and the continuous 18-hour mat pour was almost a year in planning. With the completion of the foundation, the skyscraper is finally ready to go vertical. Michael Tymoff, Boston Proprieties’ Senior Project Manager, states how the new tower is going to redefine the city’s skyline and will become an icon for San Francisco. The Salesforce Tower is expected to be completed in 2017. We encourage you to take a look at all of Conco’s projects featured on our website or contact us to see how our quality services can assist your next project. The Conco Companies mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western U.S. and to bring experience, expertise and quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for a wide range of construction development. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington. Concrete is the world’s most common manmade material and is used to construct a majority of buildings, bridges, highways, and much more. In fact it is used three times more often than steel. However one of the key ingredients in concrete is cement, which to produce contributes anywhere from one-fifth to one-tenth of industry-generated greenhouse-gas emissions. Recently a five years collaborative research project from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and CNRS suggests “a way in which those emissions could be reduced by more than half — and the result would be a stronger, more durable material.”
To make portland cement, the most common type of cement used today, calcium-rich material such as limestone is cooked with silica-rich material like clay to extremely high temperatures (up to 1450 °C) in a process called calcination. The cementitious compounds produce a hard substance called ‘clinker’. It is a result of the decarbonation of the limestone along with the extreme amount of energy used to heat up the mix that produces the carbon dioxide emissions. The MIT research suggests that by reducing the ratio of calcium to silicate, it would not only cut present day levels of emissions, but would also help to produce a better, stronger concrete. The study looked at the entire conventional calcium-to-silica rations that range from 1.2 to 2.2 with 1.7 identified as the accepted standard. They then built a database of the rations and discovered that the optimum mixture was not today’s standard but rather a ratio of approximately 1.5. In fact they found that the ratio of 1.5 parts calcium for every one part silica to be “a magical ratio.” They further noted that “at that point the material can achieve two times the resistance of normal cement, in mechanical resistance to fracture, with some molecular-scale design.” The researchers believe that this minor change in the calcium levels could help to reduce carbon emissions by as much as 60 percent. The Conco Companies are one of the foremost suppliers of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in 1959 in the Bay Area by offering clients the best value on a broad range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as top concrete contractors in the region. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington. Today we are all accustomed to seeing the long booms of concrete pumping trucks at a construction jobsite. While some of the booms have a reach of over 60 meters, if was not all that long ago that these state-of-the-art boom pumps did not exist.
In the early 20th century, the method used to move liquid concrete from a cement mixer involved using wheelbarrows. As buildings started getting taller, the process to move the concrete entailed lifting it in large buckets known as skips. This was a laborious procedure as each bucket typically only held about 2 cubic yards of concrete. It wasn’t until 1927 that two German engineers, Max Giese and Fritz Hull, decided to try and pump concrete through pipes. They had success pumping concrete to a height of 125 feet (38 meters) and a distance of 130 yards (120 meters). In 1932, Jacob Cornelius Kweimn patented a concrete pump in Holland. While there were a several different designs of concrete pumps over the ensuing years, the biggest advancement occurred in 1957. This was the invention of a twin cylinder hydraulic concrete pump from Friedrich Wilhelm Schwing’s company, Schwing GmgH. In fact the principle of the company’s design was quickly adopted by almost everyone in the industry and is still the standard design used throughout the world. The invention of the concrete pump provided concrete contractors with the ability to pump concrete at a much faster rate than buckets could lift it and to bring up a constant supply of concrete to reach the rising heights of modern construction projects. Furthermore, the placing hoses allow the liquid concrete to be positioned exactly where it is needed and eliminated the need to distribute or move it around. At The Conco Companies, we are one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offer a wide range of quality services and products. Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects. We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada. Sources: wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_pump wired.com/2015/11/it-took-18-hours-to-pour-san-franciscos-biggest-ever-concrete-foundation/#slide-1 For 40 years, The Conco Companies have owned and operated one of the largest pumping companies in the Western United States. In order to guarantee we have the proper equipment available to handle the most challenging projects, we continue to expand and upgrade our equipment and currently own one of the best state-of-the-art fleets of concrete pumps anywhere. Furthermore, our equipment is run by ACPA certified operators who are routinely trained to guarantee the highest safety standards are met.
So just what are the different types of concrete pumps? According to Schwing, one of the biggest manufacturers of concrete pumps, they state that the, “main difference between the various types of concrete pumps is determined by the additional equipment that comes as part of the pump.” For example, “a concrete pump in its simplest form is best represented by a Stationary Concrete Pump.” To enhance stationary concrete pumps, you can add a transport vehicle that is dedicated to transporting and positioning the pump, a dedicated placing boom attached to the pump, or a truck mixer to store and supply the concrete. One of the most common, the mobile concrete pumps, has a placing boom mounted onto the truck chassis. At Conco we have mobile concrete pumps that have booms with a range of less than 20 meters to ones with a reach of more than 60 meters. Mobile pumps offer the advantage of driving up to a jobsite, and after a quick set up, being ready to pump concrete to anywhere within the range of the boom. Also trailer mounted concrete pumps are very common and require a separate pipeline to be attached in order to reach the areas where the concrete needs to be placed. The other end of the pipe can be attached to a separate placing boom to allow concrete to be placed over a wider area or with a rubber placing hose for manual placement. This type of pump needs to be towed or separately transported. Please take a look at our website to see the full list of Conco’s concrete pumping equipment along with information on using our equipment. The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. and got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as one of the top concrete contractors in the region. Our offices serve California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. Source: schwing-stetter.co.uk/Pages/ConcretePumpingOverview.aspx The Conco Companies have a lot of experience in providing concrete services for the healthcare field. One such project is the new Veteran Administration Mental Health and Research facility under construction in Seattle. For this project, we are providing a wide range of concrete services including pumping, formwork, place and finish and shotcrete. In addition we will supply the reinforcement for the 203,000 square-foot building.
Another hospital project we are working on is the parking structure for the new Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, CA. The project involves the construction of 2 levels below grade, 1 level at grade and 2 levels above grade and will total approximately 397,359 square feet. The project requires 4.2 million pounds of reinforcing steel as well as 17,000 cubic yards of concrete and 1,200 cubic yards of shotcrete. While we are not directly involved in the expansion of the Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH), we applaud the sentiments of the pumping company that is using a new Putzmeister America 56Z-meter concrete pump with a pink boom. JJ Albanese had Putzmeister paint the boom pink at the factory in honor of breast cancer awareness. A company spokesman explains that they have many employees who have either themselves or have had a loved one suffer from breast cancer. The LPCH expansion is expected to be complete in 2017 and will add 521,000 square feet to the approximately 300,000-square-foot existing hospital. The new space will accommodate 150 patient rooms, office space and a healing garden and green space. In addition there will be state-of-the-art operating suites, family-friendly amenities and flexible floor space to address new technologies and streamline services. The Conco Companies are the foremost supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. We have built a reputation on superior concrete formwork, reinforcing, place and finish, shotcrete and other ancillary services that benefit from our vast experience. Our four regional offices serve California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. At The Conco Companies, our vast experience has shown us that a vital part of doing a job right is having the proper equipment. This is why Conco has continued to make capital investments to expand and update our equipment and facilities.
We are proud to report that our fleet of concrete pumping equipment is one of the best in the industry and provides us with the capability and resources to handle the most difficult project requirements. Furthermore, our excellent reputation allows us to employ one of the most experienced teams. As one example of Conco’s willingness to solve problems and to own equipment that enable us to guarantee clients the best job, we recently collaborated with Schwing American to engineer a pump that would better serve the drilling industry. As a result of our efforts, Conco was the first to purchase two new Schwing M36/31 concrete pumps specifically designed to address the problem of concrete booms that are not capable of lifting the heavy loads of long tremmie pipes loaded with concrete. Typically most pumps are rated with a lifting capacity of 300 to 400 lbs. and require cranes to assist with the lift of the boom to avoid the potential for catastrophic failure. Now the new Schwing tremmie pump has the capability to lift long tremmies into caissons without the need for a crane assist. Furthermore, the roll and fold design of the boom does not interfere with typical drilling operations. The new pump has the capacity to lift up to 1,100 lbs. and up to 60’ tremmies of 4” 11Ga. safely. Another advantage to the new pumps is that they are CARB compliant and equipped with the latest emission standards. With a small footprint and the enhanced capability, the new concrete pumps solve many problems that our drilling customers had faced in the past. The Conco Companies are a leading supplier of concrete services for the Western U.S. We got our start in the Bay Area in 1959 by offering clients the best value on a wide range of concrete services and products. Since that time, we have taken a leading role as one of the top concrete contractors in the region. Our offices serve California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. The Conco Companies many decades of experience and abundant resources gives us the expertise to innovate unique solutions to address the various challenges faced by concrete contractors. One such issue we faced head-on was in the planning stages of how we intended to pump concrete to reach the upper levels of the Wilshire Grand.
The challenge we had to undertake required pumping concrete 650 feet horizontally and then 1,125 feet vertically to reach the upper levels of the skyscraper. Furthermore, this would be the highest level that concrete was ever pumped in the city. Along with the need to get concrete to the upper levels, we also needed to do the job without creating air pollution or too much noise for the adjacent office building. This is where Conco’s ability to think out-of-the-box came in handy. Our unique solution was to purchase a high pressure, high powered state-of-the-art electric pump. In fact we were the first concrete company on the West Coast to purchase a pump of this size. The benefit of the pump is that since it is electric, it allows the project owner and contractor to meet guidelines imposed by Southern California for reduced emissions. It also produces much less noise that a diesel powered pump, and with an occupied building less than 30 feet away from the jobsite, this was critical. The new pump will be put to good use pumping more than 100,000 yards of concrete for the Wilshire Grand project and will also be used on the Salesforce Tower in S.F. as well as other Conco projects. Please see our website to learn more about our broad range of projects and our unique expertise in adeptly handling the most challenging ones. Conco’s mission is to be the best supplier of concrete services in the Western U.S. and to bring experience, expertise and quality to each project. We continue to upgrade and expand facilities to better serve the growing market for a wide range of construction development. We have four regional offices serving California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Washington. The Conco Companies have been in business for decades, and as such, have had the opportunity to provide concrete services on a broad range of commercial, educational, healthcare and public works projects as well as parking structures. One very large and exciting project we are proud to be a part of is the Wilshire Grand Center, which when complete, will become the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi.
The 73-story 1,100 foot skyscraper is located in Downtown Los Angeles and is right in the middle of a seismic hot zone with a fault less than a ½ mile away that has an estimated capacity for a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. This means that even before construction began several steps had to be taken to ensure it was ready in the event of an earthquake. Much of the early work came in the form of the architectural and engineering design. The Los Angeles-based architectural firm, A.C. Martin Partners, who prepared the current design and is overseeing the project designed the building with a garage and plaza that consists of five levels of 13-inch thick concrete floors. This will work to “transfer lateral loads such as seismic activity or Santa Ana winds to the walls or frames” of the building. Another example of how the skyscraper was designed to protect it from seismic shaking is the construction of its core that consists of four-foot thick walls and contains steel-plate box columns filled with concrete. The core will hold the building’s elevators and staircases. Furthermore, an additional 10 columns are linked to the core. These act as “structural shock absorbers to absorb the energy that an earthquake might produce.” Before Conco’s historic, record setting continuous mat pour even took place in February 2014, the skyscraper’s design had been put through some of the most advanced and sophisticated earthquake modeling available. After a series of numerous tests and studying damage from past earthquakes in Southern California, the engineers refined the size and depth of the foundation. In addition they added devices called buckling-restrained braces. These long steel bars are encased in steel boxes and filled with grout to allow the bars to compress or stretch when the building moves. At The Conco Companies, we are one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offer a wide range of quality services and products. Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects. We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada. Sources:la.curbed.com/archives/2014/02/how_the_wilshire_grand_will_stay_upright_in_a_major_earthquake.php As The Conco Companies have been in involved in many of the largest, most distinguished projects in the Western United States, we are always interested to learn more about some of the megaprojects going on across the globe. Here is a quick look at a few of them.
Originally opened in 1914, the expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to be finished in 2016 at the cost $5.25 billion and 11 years to build. The project consists of a new 3.8-mile long channel for the new locks and is estimated to have required 4.4 million cubic meters of concrete. This new phase of the canal was necessary to widen and deepen the channel to better accommodate modern ships which have grown in size. Another impressive project is the world’s largest dam in China that took 17 years and an estimated $30 billion to build. The Three Gorges Dam is built entirely of steel (510,000 tons) and concrete and is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The dam measures 595 feet tall, 131 feet wide and over 7,600 feet long. There are 32 main turbines that produce the electricity. One mega-project from right here at home is the recently completed east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which holds the Guinness World record for the widest bridge in the world. It is estimated to have a cost of 6.4 billion and is the most expensive public works project in the history of California. The east span of the bridge is 258.33 feet wide and consists of 10 general purpose lanes. Conco is one of the leading concrete contractors in the Western U.S. and offers a wide range of quality services and products. Our experience includes providing services for commercial, educational, parking and other construction development as well as public works projects. We serve California, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Nevada. Sources:popularmechanics.com/technology/g2121/the-worlds-25-most-impressive-megaprojects/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_span_replacement_of_the_San_Francisco%E2%80%93Oakland_Bay_Bridge |
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